Erdogan demands action from ‘terrorist’ Kurdish militants as Nordic couple maintains united front
The prime ministers of Finland and Sweden have suggested Hungary and Turkey approve their countries’ applications to join the NATO club, but Ankara has insisted it will lift its objections without further extraditions of suspects it considers terrorists.
The two Nordic nations implemented to enroll in the U. S. -led defense alliance in May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment in a historic policy shift triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Twenty-eight of NATO’s 30 members have ratified their demands. Hungary and Turkey are the only two that have done so.
Budapest said last week it supported the candidacies and that its parliament would ratify them by mid-December, but Ankara has again signaled that it is taking action in support of equipment it considers terrorist.
“All eyes are now on Hungary and Turkey,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Tuesday. “We are waiting for those countries to ratify our applications. I think it would be vital for that to happen, preferably sooner rather than later. “
Sweden’s new prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, told the same assembly in Helsinki that Sweden “fully respects the fact that each country in the alliance makes its own decisions,” adding that he will stop in Ankara in the coming days.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who faces elections next year and is keen to bolster nationalist support, said his country still opposes Sweden’s candidacy, while ruling AK party spokesman Ömer Çelik said on Monday that Sweden had not yet done enough for Ankara to replace its mind.
“These statements through Sweden are good, but they are not enough until they are implemented,” Çelik said. “We’re waiting for it to come to life. ” Turkey has said it has more objections to Sweden than Finland, but both countries reiterated last week that they would join NATO at the same time, maintaining a united front.
Swedish media reported that Kristersson is expected to attend a bilateral assembly in Ankara, most likely on Nov. 8, days after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg travels to the Turkish capital on Friday for talks.
According to state-run Anadolu Agency, Erdoğan told the Swedish prime minister in a phone call last week that “preventing terrorist organizations from taking Sweden’s NATO club hostage and relations with Turkey is not an unusual interest. “
Turkey has opposed the demands even before they are filed, bringing to light the history of host countries of members of Kurdish militant teams like the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and supporters of the U. S. -based Muslim preacher. U. S. Fethullah Gülen, as well as a 2019 suspension of arms sales.
The last Swedish government followed parts of a June memorandum signed with Turkey to get Ankara’s Array to lift the arms embargo and block money and other money for Kurdish equipment in Syria, such as the so-called YPG.
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Ankara needs to see more extraditions of Americans it says are connected to the PKK and other equipment it considers terrorists. So far, Sweden has approved two applications. Nordic media said as many as 73 could be on hold.
Some analysts have warned that Sweden’s center-right government, formed earlier this month, would find it easier to reach a compromise with Turkey than its center-left predecessor. Sweden’s new foreign minister, Tobias Billström, said on Monday that the new coalition had less “baggage” on the Kurdish issue.
“These included additional statements and how other people viewed the activities of the Kurdish teams on Swedish territory,” Billström said, claiming that his Social Democrat predecessor, Ann Linde’s public for Kurdish movements had confused the negotiations.